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Mark Solms’ revision of Freud’s (1895) Project re-represents a dynamic, biologically plausible, mathematically tractable model of mind. “The intention is to furnish a psychology that shall be a natural science: that is to represent psychical processes as quantitatively determinate states of specifiable material particles, thus making those processes perspicuous and free from contradiction” (Freud, 1895, p. 295). In Solms’ version, psychical has become mental and material particles have become physical elements. In the next sentence, Freud’s Q (quantity) of energy “subject to the laws of motion” becomes Solms’ F (Friston free energy) “subject to the laws of information.” The two documents may be read as a palimpsest. Solms’ superimposed text is intended to fortify the underlying text as prescient precursor to newer science.
Both Projects are written in dense prose. Language is not superfluous to my discussion. Scientific terms often carry multiple and labile meanings (information, representation, mechanism, entropy). Metaphors have and continue to shape understanding in science in both productive and blinding ways (Keller, 1995; Pigliucci & Boudry, 2011). Freud’s frequently quoted words that the cases in Studies on Hysteria read “like short stories” and “lack the serious stamp of science” (Breuer & Freud, 1895, p. 160) have an apologetic tone I suspect he hoped to rectify in the Project. A hope for that “stamp” has animated the discipline of neuropsychoanalysis.
My own apologies: I suffer from formula blindness and could not perform a Bayesian calculation if someone tied me to a tree and threatened me with a gun. Despite these glaring deficits, what I have to offer in few words is historical context for and philosophical observations on the intellectual foundations of the Projects. I have questions, not answers. Solms’ changes to Freud’s opening paragraph afford ample room for thoughts on the complexities involved.
The dream of quantifying intangible qualities in the We